Nourish colorado will collate data to develop a shared crossinstitutional bidding process for regional suppliers in early 2025

The goal of this project is to strengthen the collaboration of small and midsized producers food hubs and incubators in southeast colorado to catalyze sustainable regional procurement aggregation processing and distribution by leveraging local food in institutions. The data collected through the rfsp project will be used to identify commonly purchased products with the intention of identifying at least four products that could be supplied locallya critical step to increase participation of local suppliers and their engagement in a longterm bid process and regional value chains. Nourish colorado will also provide technical assistance to support partners with the aggregation processing and distribution of these four products to institutional buyers. The project will allow key players to learn more about value chain logistics receive food safety education bolster the regional bid with additional items help inform institutional regional bids and further an aggregation hub that connects food hubs to local producers.